Assessment of Water Quality in Ganga River Ghats of Varanasi District, Uttar Pradesh, India

Abstract

Water is the most vital biosphere component since it sustains all life, circulates and cycles nutrients. Water is also necessary for power generation, navigation, agricultural irrigation and sewage disposal. The increasing water demand is a result of the rising population and industrialization and has severely compromised water quality. Water quality assessment is the most important process for evaluating the chemical characteristics of water bodies. To assess whether the water is suitable for a variety of uses after locating any pollutants, contaminants, or other potentially hazardous compounds that may be present in the water. A systematic study was conducted to assess the water quality in the Ganga river in the Ghats of Varanasi district of Uttar Pradesh, India, from January to March 2019. The assessment involves water samples from different Ghats along the river, namely Babua Pandey Ghat (G1), Digpatia Ghat (G2), Chausatti Ghat (G3), Ranamahal Ghat (G4), and Darbhanga Ghat (G5). The analytical data from various physico-chemical parameters indicates that the pH values were found to be near neutral, electrical conductivity (EC) did not differ significantly, Ca+Mg varied from 22.80 to 28.40 mg/L, Cl- was found to be 2.40 to 3.20 mg/L, Na+ varied from 1.0 to 1.10 mg/L, K+ and SO42- showed a similar trend, TS was varied from 400 to 1200 mg/L, DO varied from 5.80 to 7.30 mg/L, COD varied from 16.0 to 22.40 mg/L, NO3- varied from 25.27 to 29.60 mg/L, B varied from 4.90 to 5.80 mg/L, SAR is 0.27 to 0.33 mg/L, The Bureau of Indian Standard (BIS) has been considered to assess the suitability for drinking and other purposes and It concluded that some of the parameters were almost constant for all the five Ghats samples, like Na+ and K+ content, while other parameters varied. Out of thirteen parameters, only three (NO3-, B, and Cl-) showed an increasing trend.